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…the 2010 Tour de France, that is. In a “kissing your sister” -type result, on paper Andy Schleck is now a TdF winner. Alberto Contador was stripped of his title, as well as his 2011 results from a final ruling handed down by the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), upholding UCI’s provisional doping ban on him. The case in question was a positive doping result following a test during his 2010 TdF campaign. Oh, and on Friday the Federal case against Lance Armstrong and alleged doping was dropped by the US Attorneys Office.

Just like that, a decision and a non-decision quietly slipped through the cycling world around a weekend when a football game happened to be played (the most unexciting close game ever, in my opinion). These are huge news items that have strange results, and perhaps, something smells rotten in the state of Denmark. I’m not saying whether either Contador or Armstrong is guilty or not, it’s just that both cases seem to have strange endings. Contador’s case had a tiny amount of evidence surrounding the “tainted beef” excuse, and Armstrong’s case had some credible, and more than a few not-so-credible witnesses step forward to testify against him. I’m not a lawyer or doping expert, but both these cases seemed to have ended rather abruptly, especially Armstrong’s. And once again, cycling fans are left to wonder what’s truth, and what isn’t in the sport’s biggest event. I wish I had some better analysis for this post, but basically just left with a bunch of questions. Any other thoughts or opinions on this matter?

I haven’t written recently due both to skiing more, as well as just doing indoor training. The skiing has been fantastic, and the indoor training, well, there’s not too much to say about sitting in the same spot for an hour or more. I have been able to make a few D38 Spin sessions at Pedal, which makes the work a whole lot more tolerable, so that’s a nice recent development.

Take it from me: the plus side of finishing last is that you will never face any scrutiny. Just go out and have fun riding a bike. And may Andy go and win for real this year, instead of via an asterisk!